Those of you who are on Twitter might have seen that Robert Parker joined the ranks of the Twitterati as @RobertMParkerJr. While looking at his profile I noticed something that freaked me out a bit. Given all of the comments that were being tossed around, I was reluctant to share my observations and come across as taunting Mr. Parker, with whom I have no real beef. Since I'm sure Mr. Parker will never read my blog, I feel safe in sharing them here.

Upon seeing @RobertMParkerJr's avatar, I couldn't help but notice that it looked remarkably similar to mine. I present for your perusal -

Note the angle of the head, the similarly colored background, everything. All of this has thrown my world into upheaval. Are Robert Parker and I really so similar that we would use avatars that are practically identical? Am I going to have to start using a 100 point scale in my reviews? Maybe all of this really means nothing, but I can't help but be a little concerned.

Or maybe this is just an interesting coincidence that illustrates the fact that the world has changed. Those of us who are in the blogging community have all been blessed with the ability to be Robert Parker, or at least something like him. We can all write about our passion for wine, and have our writing read by people all over the world. Sure, most of us will never have the kind of impact that Mr. Parker has had, but we do all have a voice. Ten or fifteen years ago the barriers for entry into the wine writing world would have kept most of us from doing this, but now we are all able to share our love of wine with a wide audience. In addition, this brave new world has allowed us to get a more diverse view of the wine world. No longer are we limited to reading the opinions of a small group of writers. Now we are able to read reviews from a number of different sources, and many of these sources have far more in common with us average Joes than our previous sources did.

So, I have decided that I don't have to run out and change my Twitter avatar. I welcome Robert Parker to the Twitter conversation; there's always room for another voice.